Numerous kinds of spice mills are utilized to both grind product in bulk and to grindingly dispense fresh spice products directly onto food. Small portable spice mills are used to provide a recent breaking apart of the spices to provide an enhanced smell and flavor experience. In the alternative, less spice is needed when it is fresh and freshly ground as the smell and taste components are more reactive and less stale.
The typical small grinder involves a device having a user crank a handle or knob connected to a shaft which moves one turn able component of a pair of grinding surfaces. When one grinding component is turned against the other while the spice is gravity fed into the grinding interspace, the crushed breaking apart of the spice occurs as it is broken into smaller pieces. Most grinding arrangements enable smaller pieces to fall from the grinding members once the pieces are ground to the smallest size. As such, the only two steps for grinding is to position the grinder to cause the spices to be ground to fall into the grinding mechanism, and then turn the grinding mechanism to effect grinding.
This action typically requires both hands even where the spice mill is highly mechanically advantaged. This is a particular problem in the restaurant setting where a server will likely also carry a number of other materials, including other plates, pens, pads and trays. The ability, especially in a restaurant setting, to quickly dispense a limited amount of spice is valuable.
Although some limited amount of ground particles may fall from the grinding components when a grinder is simply moved or placed on a table surface, the leakage is minimal. The significant amount of spice comes from between the grinding components of the grinding mechanism based upon size reduction from grinding action. Grinding action using annularly opposing components which define an annular tapering space require a gravity feed of the spices.
Where it is desired to have a number of spices, separate spice mills for each component are typically provided. The amount of time to open a grinder, remove the uncrushed and partially crushed spice present, followed by replacing the spice and begin grinding; is time consuming. As a result, providing a series of separate spice mills is duplicative. Duplication occurs for the battery supply, for the gearing, the motor and grinder drive shaft.
The ability to provide a finer spice not only enables the use of less spice for the same level of taste, but also enables a lesser use of spices which are not healthy in higher amounts, such as salt. The ability to provide a salt garnish in lesser amounts than would be present permeating a dish and yet give the same salt taste is desirable. The same is true for hot spices. The finer the grind, the lesser of the gastric challenging hot spice is necessary to achieve the same level of taste, all other things being equal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,150 entitled Electric grinder for Pepper for Salt uses an offset shaft 27 and creates a device so wide that it cannot be utilized with one hand. The device has a reciprocal helical connection device, with a separate shaft and gear mechanism to reverse the direction of turning and transmit this to a second unit.
What is needed is a device which enables the use of spice to be accomplished more easily and more sparingly and which does not require the user to use both hands when operating the spice mill. It is preferable for a desired spice mill to be able to be able to dispense more than one spice without subjecting the spices to intermixing. The needed device should have a simple mechanism and allow the user to unambiguously control which spice is to be dispensed at any given time. The needed spice grinding and dispensing device should be supportable and operable with one hand, and any reciprocal mechanism and additional side shafting should be eliminated.